India, July 9 - Animesh Kujur is a self-assured young fellow. He radiates the kind of conviction that is rare among Indian athletes, whether he is making announcements or celebrating his Lightning Bolt. Although Kujur lives in the fast lane. Not at the level of the rest of the world, but fast enough to keep you interested.

At the Dromia International Sprint and Relays meet in Vari, Greece, last weekend, the 22-year-old set a new national mark of 10.18 seconds in the 100 meter event. At the silver level competition of the World Athletics Continental Tour, he beat out Greece's Sotirios Garagganis (10.23 seconds) and Finland's Samuli Samuelsson (10.28 seconds) in the B Final. Gurindervir Singh, his relay teammate, previously held the national record (10.20 seconds). This record, which Gurindervir held for less than four months, demonstrates the competitiveness and potential of Indian men's sprints.

However, Kujur is not ecstatic. "10.18 seconds is not that great a time," he says. "It's good, but not worth celebrating." I am sure I can do better. And I will improve in this year alone. Wait and see.

His assurance is based on his training and the knowledge that he possesses both speed and genetic talent. He is certain that a little technical improvement will bring him closer to completing the course in less than 10 seconds.

Everyone keeps asking me about it. My ultimate goals are to break 10 seconds and 20 seconds in the 200 meters, but that won't happen right away. I'm confident I can do much better considering I only began competing a few years ago, he claims.

Kujur has been residing in Switzerland's Magglingen Sportzentrum in Bern for almost two weeks, hoping to see his objective realized. To reduce those milliseconds, Kujur has been working on his start under the tutelage of Reliance Foundation coach Martin Owens and strength and bobsleigh performance coach Chris Woolley.

"It's been an amazing experience. The technical insights have been superb and I can already feel the difference," he says.

Owens is also overjoyed. "We can certainly squeeze a couple of 100 (milliseconds) just by correcting his block position and angle of the block," he says. The placement of blocks is determined by the length of an athlete's limbs, while the ideal angles for the first and second blocks are 45 and 55 degrees, respectively.

Woolley has brought Kujur a lot of lower body workouts for building strength without sacrificing flexibility. He reasoned that Kujur's hamstring and lower back weren't flexible enough, which caused him to lose valuable momentum at the beginning.

"Chris has been really kind to me, and I spend a lot of time with him at the gym. Some of the devices' names are unknown to me. The technology used here is rather impressive," Kujur says.

Kujur, whose prior top 100-meter time was 10. seconds, says, "Imagine what a month would accomplish if just 10 days of instruction with him could make such a difference."

The next event for Kujur will be the World University Games in Germany, which will take place after Spitzen Leichtathletik in Lucerne, Switzerland (July 15), and the Monaco Diamond League's U-23 division (July 11). The 200m will be the only event he participates in at each of these competitions.

Kujur, whose 200-meter national record is 20.32 seconds, said, "It is my pet event and I aim to better my mark." He belonged to the quartet that owns the national record for the 4x100m relay.

"I was always aware that I was the quickest person in India. I have the timing to demonstrate now, he adds.

Owens claims that Kujur's attitude is the key to his success. "He doesn't chase time or medals. He is, in my opinion, driven by his desire for self-improvement.

Kujur's next goal for the coach is for him to complete the 200-meter race in 20.16 seconds, which would be enough for him to compete in the Tokyo World Championships in September.

"We're working hard on things like speed, endurance, top-end speed, curve running, and running off the bend." Additionally, he has a strong training team. Owens continues, "He has all the ingredients to be a track sensation."

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